Managing Financial Accounts Associated with Residents of Controlled-Environment Facilities

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for managing financial accounts associated with residents of controlled-environment facilities are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method may include receiving information corresponding to a pooled account (e.g., a trust account, etc.) held by a financial institution (e.g., a bank), at least in part, for the benefit of residents (e.g., work-release inmates, etc.) of a controlled-environment facility (e.g., a jail, prison, etc.). The method may also include allocating funds within the pooled account to corresponding residents. The method may further include designating a first portion of the funds allocated to a given resident as inaccessible to the resident and designating a second portion of funds allocated to the given resident as accessible to the resident. A magnetic card, near-field communications (NFC) device, or the like may be associated with the accessible portion of a resident&#39;s funds and used to complete transactions inside and/or outside of the controlled-environment facility.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to, and is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/294,649, which was filed on Nov. 11,2011, and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,498,937 on Jul. 30, 2013, thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This specification relates to systems and methods for managing financialaccounts associated with residents of controlled-environment facilities.

BACKGROUND

In the United States, when a person is arrested, detained, or otherwisecommitted to a correctional facility, that person is typically strippedof his or her personal possessions (e.g., cash, watches, jewelry,clothes, personal electronics, etc.) during an intake process commonlyreferred to as “booking.” Cash is deposited into a trust account for theindividual while credit cards and other valuables are stored as personalproperty and returned to the individual upon his or her release from thefacility. Family members or friends may be allowed to deposit additionalmoney into the inmate's trust account during his or her incarceration.

While residing within the correctional facility, the inmate may oftendesire or need to initiate transactions that require monetary payment.For example, commissary purchases, medical payments, telephone calls,and other goods and services may be available to inmates whose trustaccounts have sufficient funds to complete transactions. Moreover, asthe inventors hereof have recognized, in prison systems that implementwork-release programs and allow certain inmates to periodically leaveconfinement to work outside of the prison, inmates may also have adesire or need to initiate other transactions outside of thecorrectional facility.

Work-release inmates receive compensation from their employers. In somecases, employers mail checks to the prison administration, which willthen cash the checks at a local bank (e.g., once a week) and disbursethe money to respective inmates. As the inventors hereof have alsorecognized, however, attempting to distribute cash to inmates can causea number of problems. Typically, a significant part of the cash can belost, stolen, or distributed to the wrong inmate. Once the inmatereceives cash, there is no mechanism in place to control, restrict, ormonitor how the inmate spends his or her money (e.g., illegal orprescription drugs, etc.), especially with respect to transactionsconducted outside of the correctional facility. To address these andother issues, the inventors hereof have developed various systems andmethods for managing financial accounts associated with residents ofcontrolled-environment facilities.

SUMMARY

This specification relates to systems and methods for managing financialaccounts associated with residents of controlled-environment facilities.In some embodiments, certain techniques described herein may enableand/or facilitate the management of funds within pooled, escrow, ortrust accounts maintained for the benefit of several (or all) residentswithin one or more controlled-environment facilities. In variousimplementations, residents may be full- or part-time residents (e.g.,work-release inmates, etc.) of a controlled-environment facility (e.g.,a prison, jail, etc.). Meanwhile financial accounts may be held by oneor more financial institutions (e.g., banks, etc.) that are distinct orindependent from the controlled-environment facilities.

In some embodiments, funds may be allocated to each resident of a givenfacility, and each resident's allocation may be further designated as(or split into) two or more different categories. For example, a firstcategory of funds may be inaccessible to the resident, whereas a secondcategory of funds may be usable by the resident, for example, topurchase goods and services inside and/or outside of the resident'scontrolled-environment facility. Each resident may be issued a magneticcard, near-field communication (NFC) device, or the like, and each cardor device may be associated an inmates available funds (e.g., theresident's individual funds designated in the second category). Asadditional amounts are deposited into or debited from the pooledaccount, each resident's allocation and fund designations may be managedaccording to rules designed by the relevant authorities.

In an embodiment, a method may include receiving, over a computernetwork, information corresponding to a pooled account held by afinancial institution, at least in part, for the benefit of a pluralityof residents of a controlled-environment facility. The method may alsoinclude electronically allocating funds within the pooled account tocorresponding ones of the plurality of residents. In response to auser's command received via a graphical user interface (GUI), the methodmay include electronically designating a first portion of the fundsallocated to a given resident as inaccessible to the given residentduring his or her commitment to the controlled-environment facility andelectronically designating a second portion of funds allocated to thegiven resident as accessible to the given resident while during his orher commitment to the controlled-environment facility.

In various implementations, the pooled account may be an inmate trustaccount, the financial institution may be a bank, the given resident maybe a work-release inmate, and the controlled-environment facility may bea work-release institution.

In some cases, a method may also include electronically adding money tothe funds allocated to the given resident, the added money received fromthe given resident or from the given resident's employer. The method mayalso include electronically subtracting money from the funds allocatedto the given resident, the subtracted money corresponding to at leastone of a restitution obligation, child support obligation, fee, or fine.Additionally, a method may include electronically enforcing, for thegiven resident, an allocation rule configured to establish a maximumamount of funds allowed to be designated as the second portion. Themethod may further include electronically enforcing, for the givenresident, a spending rule configured to control at least one of: ageographical area where funds in the second portion are allowed to bespent, a type of transaction allowed to be conducted using funds in thesecond portion, or a type of business allowed to receive payment fromfunds in the second portion. In some cases, a method may includeautomatically transferring funds from the first portion to the secondportion in response to the second portion reaching a minimum amount.

The method may also include causing the second portion of funds to beavailable for the given resident's use via a physical instrument. Insome implementations, the physical instrument may be a magnetic card ora near-field communication (NFC) device.

In another embodiment, a method may include receiving informationcorresponding to a financial account maintained, at least in part, forthe benefit of a plurality of work-release inmates, allocating fundsfrom the financial account to corresponding ones the plurality ofwork-release inmates, and designating, for each respective of theplurality of work-release inmates, a first portion of the allocatedfunds as not accessible to the respective work-release inmate and asecond portion of the allocated funds as accessible to the respectivework-release inmate.

The method may also include causing the system to link each secondportion of allocated funds to a corresponding physical instrument, eachphysical instrument usable to pay for goods or services purchased by awork-release inmate outside of a controlled-environment facility. Invarious implementations, the physical instruments may be magnetic cardsor NFC devices. Each of the physical instruments may include an accountnumber associated with a respective second portion of the allocatedfunds. Further, the physical instruments may be configured to prohibitcash withdrawal or advance.

In yet another embodiment, a method may include identifying fundsallocated to each of a plurality of part-time residents of acontrolled-environment facility and designating, for each of theplurality of part-time residents, a first portion of the allocated fundsas unusable by the part-time resident for purchases outside of thecontrolled-environment facility and a second portion of the allocatedfunds as usable by the part-time resident for purchases outside of thecontrolled-environment facility. In response to an indication thatadditional money has been received at the controlled-environmentfacility from a given part-time resident's employer, the method mayinclude adding the received money to the allocated funds correspondingto the given part-time resident. Additionally or alternatively, inresponse to an indication that a given part-time resident's restitutionobligation, child support obligation, fee, or fine is due, the methodmay include subtracting or withholding money from the allocated fundscorresponding to the given part-time resident.

In certain implementations, the method may include controlling at leastone of: a maximum amount of funds allowed to be designated in the secondportion, a geographical area where funds in the second portion areallowed to be spent, a type of transaction allowed to be conducted usingfunds designated in the second portion, or a type of business allowed toreceive payment from funds designated in the second portion. Also, inresponse to an indication that a given part-time resident's commitmentto the controlled-environment facility is being terminated, the methodmay include transferring money from the first portion of allocated fundscorresponding to the given part-time resident to the second portion ofallocated funds corresponding to the given part-time resident.

In various embodiments, one or more of the techniques described hereinmay be performed by one or more computer systems. In other variousembodiments, a tangible computer-readable storage medium may haveprogram instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by one or morecomputer systems, cause the one or more computer systems to execute oneor more operations disclosed herein. In yet other various embodiments, asystem may include at least one processor and a memory coupled to the atleast one processor, the memory configured to store program instructionsexecutable by the at least one processor to cause the system to executeone or more operations disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an illustrative environment where varioussystems and methods described herein may be implemented according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of illustrative account management softwareaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating certain account management techniquesaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is an example of a graphical user interface (GUI) according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method of managing financial accountsassociated with residents of controlled-environment facilities accordingto some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of adding money to a resident'saccount according to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method of monitoring or controlling aresident's financial transactions according to some embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a computer system configured to implementcertain systems and methods disclosed herein according to someembodiments.

While this specification provides several embodiments and illustrativedrawings, a person of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thepresent specification is not limited only to the embodiments or drawingsdescribed. It should be understood that the drawings and detaileddescription are not intended to limit the specification to theparticular form disclosed, but, on the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within thescope of the claims. Also, any headings used herein are fororganizational purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope ofthe description. As used herein, the word “may” is meant to convey apermissive sense (i.e., meaning “having the potential to”), rather thana mandatory sense (i.e., meaning “must”). Similarly, the words“include,” “including,” and “includes” mean “including, but not limitedto.”

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This specification discloses systems and methods for managing financialaccounts associated with residents of controlled-environment facilities.Various types of controlled-environment facilities are present intoday's society, and persons may be voluntary or involuntary residentsof such facilities, whether temporarily or permanently, full-time orpart-time. Examples of controlled-environment facilities may includecorrectional institutions (e.g., municipal jails, county jails, stateprisons, federal prisons, military stockades, juvenile facilities,detention camps, home incarceration environments, etc.), healthcarefacilities (e.g., hospitals, nursing homes, mental health facilities,rehabilitation facilities, such as drug and alcohol rehabilitationfacilities, etc.), restricted living quarters (e.g., hotels, resorts,camps, dormitories, barracks, etc.), and the like. Full-time residentstypically spend all their time within a given facility for the entireduration of their commitment. Conversely, part-time residents of thesefacilities may include persons that are allowed to spend some amount oftime outside of his or her facility despite being otherwise committed tothat facility (e.g., a work-release inmate, etc.).

Controlled-environment facilities, such as the ones described above, maysometimes be thought of as a small community or city, perhaps walled orotherwise access restricted, wherein various activities occur within thecommunity and between the community and those outside the community inthe daily operation thereof. Such a community includes a number ofindividuals and enterprises directly associated therewith, includingmanagement, staff, and inmates, residents, patients, or guests, and anumber of individuals and enterprises indirectly associated therewith,including friends and family of residents, vendors, government agencies,providers of services to residents, and individuals with a connection tothe facility or its residents. Information is often exchanged andtransactions are often conducted by, between, among, and on behalf ofthe aforementioned individuals and enterprises in performing theirday-to-day activities.

For convenience of explanation, various examples discussed herein arepresented in the context of correctional facilities. For instance, insome of the embodiments discussed below, a controlled-environmentfacility may be referred to as a jail or prison, and its residents maybe referred to as arrestees, detainees, or inmates. It should beunderstood, however, that the systems and methods described herein maybe similarly applicable to other types of controlled-environmentfacilities and their respective residents (e.g., a hospital and itspatients, a school dormitory and its students, etc.).

Turning now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an illustrative environmentwhere various techniques described herein may be implemented is depictedaccording to some embodiments. As shown, prison 100 may host a pluralityof inmates. In a typical scenario, immediately upon arrival at prison100, each inmate may be subject to an “intake” or “booking” process,whereby certain information may be collected by prison staff viaenrollment access terminal 105. For example, the inmate's name, gender,address, date of birth, etc. may be received by terminal 105 and storedin a prison management system (not shown). According to someembodiments, in addition to identification information, terminal 105 mayalso be configured to receive biometric samples (e.g., fingerprints,voice prints, iris scans, etc.) and store one or more such samples asbiometric signatures that may later be used, for example, to validatethe identities of inmates in the course of a transaction or purchase.

Terminal 105 may be further configured to allow prison staff to indicatehow much cash the inmate has at hand at the time of booking, and thisinformation may be provided to account management system 130 via thecontrolled-environment facility's communication system 110 for furtherprocessing. Once accounted for, the inmate's cash may be physicallytransported to local bank 145 to be deposited into a pooled, escrow, ortrust account 150 held by bank 145 for the benefit of the facility'sinmates. These and other operations involved in the management of thefacility's trust account(s) are discussed in more detail below.

In some embodiments, prison 100 may allow an inmate to make or receivephone calls using device 115 via communication system 110. To that end,communication system 110 may include one or more analog switches, IPgateways, PBX systems, etc. that provide communication systems to prison100. For example, an inmate within prison 100 may use device 115 to makea telephone call to (or to receive a telephone call from) a non-residentof prison 100 operating device 125 through public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) 120.

Although illustrated as telephones in FIG. 1, devices 115 and 125 mayinclude any communication device such as, for example, an analogtelephone, a Voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a video visitation system, anInternet terminal, etc. For example, in some embodiments, non-residentdevice 115 may be operable to communicate with device 125 throughnetwork 140. Network 140 may include, for example, the Internet.Additionally or alternatively, network 140 may include wireless cellularnetworks or the like.

In some implementations, communication system 110 may also include aninteractive voice response (IVR) system. The IVR system may beconfigured to allow a non-resident to authorize a transfer of funds fromhis or her personal account (e.g., a checking account, etc.) to thefacility's trust account 150 for the benefit of a specified inmate.

During their commitment to prison 100, inmates may be allowed topurchase commissary items from commissary agent 155 (e.g., a person, anautomated vending machine, etc.). To conduct these types oftransactions, in various implementations, commissary agent 155 maycommunicate with account management system 130 through communicationsystem 110 to determine whether the inmate has sufficient funds in trustaccount 150 held by bank system 145. If the inmate has sufficient fundsto allow a particular transaction, the inmate may be allowed to purchasethe commissary item. Otherwise, commissary agent 155 may inform theinmate that there are insufficient funds and may not allow thetransaction. In some situations, at least some of the inmates may bework-release inmates or other part-time residents of facility 100.Generally speaking, work-release inmates are allowed to leave facility100 at predetermined times or days to work outside of facility 100.Accordingly, in some cases, work-release inmates may also be able topurchase certain items, for example, through point-of-sale (POS) system160 located outside of facility 100.

In operation, account management system 130 may be configured tointerface with other systems within bank system 145 to enable theimplementations of various techniques described herein. As noted above,bank system 145 may maintain a trust account in database 150 for several(or all) inmates within facility 100. Meanwhile, account managementsystem 130 may be configured to logically allocate funds from trustaccount 150 to individual inmates. These allocations may be stored, forexample, in allocated accounts database 135. Account management system130 may also be configured to sub-allocate funds belonging to a giveninmate into two or more portions. In some cases, each such portion maybe designated for a different type of use, may be subject to differentrestrictions or limitations, etc. For example, in some embodiments,certain portions of an inmate's individual account may be linked to aphysical instrument (e.g., a magnetic card, near-field communication(NFC) device, etc.), and therefore may be usable by the inmate to effectmonetary transactions or purchases. Other portions of an inmate'sindividual account may not be so linked, and may be generallyinaccessible to the inmate. The physical instrument may be provided orotherwise authorized by bank 145 and/or account management system 130.

Generally speaking, databases 135 and/or 150 may include any suitabletype of application or data structure that may be configured as a datarepository. For example, databases 135 and/or 150 may be configured asrelational databases that include one or more tables of columns and rowsand that may be searched or queried according to a query language, suchas a version of Structured Query Language (SQL). Alternatively,databases 135 and/or 150 may be configured as structured data storesthat include data records formatted according to a markup language, suchas a version of eXtensible Markup Language (XML). In other embodiments,databases 135 and/or 150 may be implemented using arbitrarily orminimally structured data files managed and accessible through anysuitable type of application.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, account management system 130 may be locatedinside of prison 100. In other embodiments, however, system 130 and/orcomponents thereof may be disposed outside prison 100. For example, insome cases, account management system 130 may be at least partiallyco-located with bank system 145, and their respective databases 135 and150 may be at least partially merged. Furthermore, FIG. 1 shows a singleprison 100 served by a single account management system 130 for ease ofexplanation only. In other embodiments, two or more prisons may beserved by the same account management system 130 and/or two or more ofeach such system may serve the same prison. Also, it should be notedthat account management system 130 and/or bank system 145 may bedistributed across different geographical areas.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of illustrative account management softwareaccording to some embodiments. In various implementations, such softwaremay be executed by account management system 130 of FIG. 1. As shown,account allocation engine 200 is coupled to communication interface 205,database management module 210, allocation rules module 115, andgraphical user interface (GUI) module 220. Moreover, account allocationengine 200 may be configured to perform operations including thosedescribed below with respect to FIGS. 3-7.

Communication interface 205 may enable the account management softwareto exchange information with other systems (e.g., bank system 145) vianetwork 140. In some embodiments, communication interface 205 may beconfigured to transmit and/or receive information using secure socketlayer (SSL) encryption. Additionally or alternatively, other connectionsmay also be used, such as, for example, XML file transmission utilizingfile transfer protocol (FTP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) POSTtransactions, or other data transmission protocols. Communicationinterface 205 may further include any of a variety of standardizedapplication programming interfaces (APIs) configured to allow differentsoftware programs to communicate (e.g., to request services and respondto such requests) in an autonomous, web-based, and/orplatform-independent manner. For example, banking system 145 may chooseto expose certain data (e.g., account number, balances, recenttransactions, etc.) and/or certain operations (e.g., deposits,withdraws, transfers, payments, etc.) via a web services interface.Communication interface 205 may then access those exposed data and/orfunctions via the appropriate API(s).

Database management module 210 may include any suitable databasemanagement system (DBMS) or application configured to manage thecreation, maintenance, and use of database 135 of FIG. 1. Allocationrules module 215 may include one or more sets of rules for eachindividual inmate (or groups of inmates), in any suitable format, thatallow an administrator within facility 100 to manage the allocation anddistribution of trust account funds. GUI module 220 may be configured toprovide, for example, a web-based user interface (WUI) that implementsJAVA™, AJAX, ADOBE® FLEX®, MICROSOFT®.NET, or similar technologies toprovide real-time user control. In other cases, GUI module 220 may be acommand line interface or another suitable interface using non-web basedtechnologies.

In various embodiments, the modules shown in FIG. 2 may represent setsof software routines, logic functions, and/or data structures that areconfigured to perform specified operations. Although these modules areshown as distinct logical blocks, in other embodiments at least some ofthe functionality provided by these modules may be combined into fewerblocks. Conversely, any given one of modules 200-220 may be implementedsuch that its functionality is divided among two or more logical blocks.Moreover, although shown with a particular configuration, in otherembodiments these various modules may be rearranged in other suitableways.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a diagram illustrating certain account managementtechniques is depicted according to some embodiments. These techniquesmay be performed, at least in part, by account management system 130and/or banking system 145 shown in FIG. 1. Particularly, trust account150 may include or otherwise represent a pooled or escrow accountmaintained for the benefit of inmates within controlled environmentfacility 100. Funds within trust account 150 may be allocated toindividual inmates A-N in the form of individual accounts 135A-N—i.e.,one account for each respective inmate. Each individual account may thenbe further split into different portions, each portion having its owndistinct designation. For example, funds in inmate A's individualaccount 135A may be divided into first portion 300A-1 and second portion300A-2. Similarly, funds in inmate B's account 135B may be split intofirst portion 300B-1 and second portion 300B-2. In some cases, more thattwo sub-portions may be used. For instance, funds in inmate N'sindividual account 135N may be split into N portions 300C1-N.

In various implementations, each portion may receive a designationselected by facility 100. For example, as illustrated, portions 300A-1,300B-1, and 300C-1 are designated as being inaccessible to theirrespective inmates, whereas portions 300A-2, 300B-2, and 300C-2-N aredesignated as accessible to their respective inmates. As such, portion300A-2 may be associated with magnetic card or NFC device A (i.e., foruse by inmate A), portion 300B-2 may be associated with magnetic card orNFC device B (i.e., for use by inmate B), and portions 300C-2-N may beassociated with magnetic cards or NFC devices NA-NN (i.e., for use byinmate N).

It should be noted that, whereas trust account 150 may be an actualfinancial account (e.g., a checking account, etc.), individual inmateaccounts 135A-N may represent logical, fiscal or accounting subdivisionsof trust account 150 that may be maintained by software. Also, portions300A-1, 3-00A-2, etc. may represent further logical, fiscal oraccounting subdivisions of the each respective individual inmate account135A-N, also maintained by software. These various allocations may becreated, for example, by account allocation engine 200 of the accountmanagement software depicted in FIG. 2.

Generally speaking, the account management techniques described in FIG.3 may be implemented in various ways. For example, in implementationmode 305, banking system 145 may be responsible for managing trustaccount 150 and account management system 130 within facility 100 may beresponsible for managing allocated accounts and designated portions ofthose allocated accounts. In implementation mode 310, banking system 145may be responsible for managing trust account 150 as well as the firstlevel of logical abstraction involved in the management of allocatedaccounts 135A-N, whereas account management system 130 within facility100 may be responsible for managing only the designated portions ofallocated accounts (i.e., a second level of abstraction). Inimplementation mode 315, either banking system 145 and/or accountmanagement system 130 may be responsible for managing trust account 150,allocated accounts 135A-N, and their designated portions.

FIG. 4 is an example of a graphical user interface (GUI) according tosome embodiments. In various embodiments, GUI may be displayed to a uservia GUI module 220 of FIG. 2, and may be operable to display informationand/or receive commands from the user. As illustrated, browser orapplication window 400 may be configured to display text content, imagecontent, input features, navigable links, etc.; although in otherembodiments a GUI may include more or fewer types of content in variouscombinations, including other common types not specifically enumeratedherein. Although the various content types are discussed as segregatedfeatures, they may be interspersed or combined in any suitable fashionaccording to the capabilities of the browser and language used toimplement the GUI, and may be displayed in any suitable area of windowor application 400. In an embodiment, window 400 may be generated andmanaged by a web browser such as, for example, MICROSOFT EXPLORER®,FIREFOX®, SAFARI®, CHROME®, etc. executed by terminal 105 and/or accountmanagement system 130.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, first area 405 within window 400indicates the total balance present in trust account 150, a total amountof funds that are linked to inmate cards and therefore available tothem, and a total amount of funds that are not linked to inmate cardsand thus inaccessible. First area 405 may also include a link to “GlobalAllocation Rules” (i.e., rules that affect all inmates), and otherapplication functionality including, for example, search features, etc.

Second area 410 of window 400 includes a list of inmates within facility100. The list may be presented or ordered, for example, by inmate'sname, identification number, or the like. Each line item containing aninmate's entry may include certain summary information such as, forexample, the inmate's current balance (e.g., for inmate A, the amount offunds present in individual inmate account 135A), as well as funds inthe various logical account sub-portions (e.g., for inmate A, fundslinked to a physical instrument in portion 300A-2 and inaccessible fundsin portion 300A-1). A user may reorder the list of inmates based onthese various summary items, for instance, by allowing a user to selectthose items using a pointing device or the like.

Once a user selects a particular inmate, third area 415 of window 400may be displayed with detailed information about that inmate. Examplesof detailed information may include, for example, biographic information(e.g., inmate's name, date of birth, employer, salary, etc.), allocatedfunds 425 (e.g., total allocation in individual inmate account, as wellas linked and non-linked portions), recent transactions 430, andallocation rules 435 applicable to that inmate. In this manner, the GUIof FIG. 4 may allow a user to manage allocations and distribution offund among various inmate's accounts, as well as rules applicable tothose allocations and to the inmate's use of funds. As a person ofordinary skill in the art will recognize in light of this disclosure,however, the GUI shown in FIG. 4 is merely illustrative, and othervariations may be implemented.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method of managing financial accountsassociated with residents of controlled-environment facilities accordingto some embodiments. In some cases, the method of FIG. 5 may beimplemented at least in part by account allocation engine 200 of FIG. 2.At block 500, the method may include receiving information correspondingto an account held by a financial institution. This may include, forexample, receiving from bank system 145 an account number, routinginformation, current balance, recent or pending transactions, etc.associated with trust account 150. At block 505, the method may includelogically allocating funds to each individual resident (e.g., accounts135A-N).

At blocks 510 and 515, the method may include designating, for eachindividual account, a first portion and a second portion, respectively.For example, for inmate A, blocks 510 and 515 may include logicallydividing account 135A into portion 300A-1 and 300A-2. At block 520, themethod may include linking, for each individual account, the secondportion of the account (e.g., for inmate A, portion 300A-2) to amagnetic card, NFC device, or the like. In some cases, accountallocation engine 200 may transmit a request to bank 145 to issue amagnetic check card or the like for the inmate. The check card may belinked only to the sub-portion of the respective inmate's individualaccount that is accessible to that inmate (e.g., 300A-2), such that theinmate may not use the card to access other funds (e.g., in portion300A-1), despite these other funds otherwise belong to him or her. Insome cases, the magnetic card may be configured such that it also doesnot allow the inmate to withdraw cash, for example, from an ATM machine.

In other cases, instead of issuing a magnetic card, bank 145 may cause asecurity code to be transmitted to an NFC-capable device, such as, forexample, an inmate's smart phone or the like. Again, the code may beconfigured to allow the inmate to access only funds designated in aparticular portion of his or her individual account.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of adding money to a resident'saccount according to some embodiments. In some cases, the method of FIG.6 may be implemented at least in part by account allocation engine 200of FIG. 2. At block 600, the method may include receiving money from aparticular inmate, inmate's employer (e.g., a paycheck, etc.), theinmate's friends and family (e.g., electronic funds transfer (EFT),etc.). At block 605, the method may identify the inmate to whom thereceived funds belong, for example, by name, prison ID, etc. At block610, the method may subtract from the received amount any existingobligation such as, for example, a restitution obligation, child supportobligation, fee, or fine.

At block 615, the method may determine whether certain rules aresatisfied. For example, allocation rules module 215 may includeregulations such as, for instance, a maximum amount of funds that theinmate is allowed to have in the second designated portion of his or herindividual account (e.g., for inmate A, portion 300A-2). In some cases,a controlled-environment facility may set a maximum and/or minimumamount of money that may be transferred to an inmate's second designatedportion in a single transfer transaction and/or over a period of time.Additionally or alternatively, the controlled-environment facility mayset a maximum number of transfers between the first and seconddesignated portions over a period of time. If the rules are satisfied,the remainder of the received money may be deposited in the inmate'ssecond designated portion and thus be linked to the inmate's magneticcard or NFC device at block 620. Otherwise, at block 625, the remainderof the received money may be deposited in the inmate's first designatedportion (e.g., for inmate A, portion 300A-1), and thus be inaccessibleto the inmate via his or her magnetic card or NFC device.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method of monitoring or controlling aresident's financial transactions according to some embodiments. Again,the method of FIG. 7 may be implemented at least in part by accountallocation engine 200 of FIG. 2. At block 700, the method may includedetecting a transaction request as indicated, for example, by commissaryagent 155, POS system 160, and/or bank system 145. At block 705, themethod may include identifying the inmate associated with request, forinstance, by looking up the inmate's account records based on a numberor code in the magnetic card or NFC device used to attempt to initiatethe pending transaction.

At block 710, the method may determine whether the amount of the pendingtransaction exceeds the balance available to the inmate (e.g., forinmate A, the amount in second portion 300A-2). If the balance availableto the inmate in the second designated portion is sufficient to conductthe transaction, control passes to block 715. At block 715, the methodmay determine whether the transaction is allowed for the particularinmate based on one or more transaction rules. If so, the transactionmay be approved at block 720 and the appropriate amount may be deductedfrom the inmate's account. If at block 710 it is determined that thebalance available to the inmate in his second designated account is notsufficient to complete the transaction, or if in block 715 it isdetermined that the rules are not satisfied, the transaction may bedeclined in block 725. In these cases, an alert may be transmitted tothe appropriate authorities and/or sanctions may be imposed upon theoffending inmate.

As noted above, the method of FIG. 7 may determine whether a pendingtransaction complies with transactions rules established for therequesting inmate. Examples of transaction rules include, but are notlimited to, a geographical area where funds in the second portion areallowed or not allowed to be spent (e.g., based on the location of thepoint-of-sale where the transaction is initiated, GPS coordinatesprovided by the NFC device, etc.), a type of transaction allowed or notallowed to be conducted using funds in the second portion (e.g.,purchases of lottery tickets, cash withdrawals, etc. may not beallowed), or a type of business that is allowed or not allowed toreceive payment from funds in the second portion (e.g., stores that sellpornographic material, alcohol, etc. may not be eligible to receivepayment). These various transactions rules may be stored, for example,within module 215 of FIG. 2. In some cases, certain allocation and/ortransactions rules may be applicable to individual inmates. Additionallyor alternatively, other such allocation and/or transactions rules may beapplicable to groups of inmates (e.g., work-release inmates). Also,module 215 may allow a user (e.g., prison staff, relevant authorities,etc.) to modify allocation and/or transactions rules on a global basis(i.e., affecting all inmates) or on an individual or group basis.

As mentioned above, the method may include determining a physical,geographical area where inmates are allowed to spend money. For example,each inmate (or group of inmates) may only be allowed to spend money(e.g., by using the magnetic card linked to the second designatedportion or his or her account) in a given geographical area outside ofthe prison. Such a geographical area may be defined, for example, bylatitude and longitude, zip code(s), or in some other suitable manner.In other words, in some cases, a system implementing the method of FIG.7 may create a “geofence” or the like. As such, if the inmate attemptsto use the magnetic card or NFC device outside of the allowed area(i.e., outside the geofence), the transaction may be blocked and/orauthorities may be notified of the infraction. In other embodiments,geofencing may be used to define or limit certain types of purchases tospecific areas. For example, a mall or shopping center may be defined asa geographic area in which the inmate is allowed to purchase food,clothing, and electronics, but the inmate may be limited to purchasingonly food outside the defined geographic area.

Additionally or alternatively, a webfencing technique may also serve toenforce limitations on an inmate's ability to spend money over theInternet. For example, in some cases, the magnetic card or NFC devicemay be used to conduct certain online transactions (e.g., over theInternet) in a controlled manner. For example, an inmate may be allowedto purchase calling minutes or time, commissary items, etc. via one ormore websites that are pre-approved by the prison administration. Inthese situations, if an inmate attempts to purchase items via anon-approved retail website, a website that sells pornographicmaterials, etc., a system implementing the method of FIG. 7 may alsoblock the transaction and/or notify the authorities. Although discussedin terms of an Internet transaction, similar rules may be applied in thecontext of phone-based transactions.

In some embodiments, the method of FIG. 7 may determine whether aresident is still incarcerated within a controlled-environment facilityor still participating in a work-release or similar program prior toauthorizing a given transaction. For example, if an inmate has escapedfrom prison (e.g., a work-release inmate has not reported back to prisonat the specified time or day of the week), the otherwise accessibleportion of his or her account (e.g., the second designated portion) maybe frozen and/or subsequent transactions may be declined.

Embodiments of systems and methods for managing financial accountsassociated with residents of controlled-environment facilities, asdescribed herein, may be implemented or executed by one or more computersystems. One such computer system is illustrated in FIG. 8. In variousembodiments, computer system 800 may be a server, a mainframe computersystem, a workstation, a network computer, a desktop computer, a laptop,or the like. For example, in some cases, account management system 130shown in FIG. 1 may be implemented as computer system 800. Moreover, oneor more of bank system 145, commissary systems 155, or POS system 160,may include one or more computers in the form of computer system 800. Asexplained above, in different embodiments these various computer systemsmay be configured to communicate with each other in any suitable way,such as, for example, via network 140.

As illustrated, computer system 800 includes one or more processors 810coupled to a system memory 820 via an input/output (I/O) interface 830.Computer system 800 further includes a network interface 840 coupled toI/O interface 830, and one or more input/output devices 850, such ascursor control device 860, keyboard 870, and display(s) 880. In someembodiments, it is contemplated that a given entity (e.g., accountmanagement system 130) may be implemented using a single instance ofcomputer system 800, while in other embodiments multiple such systems,or multiple nodes making up computer system 800, may be configured tohost different portions or instances of embodiments. For example, in oneembodiment some elements may be implemented via one or more nodes ofcomputer system 800 that are distinct from those nodes implementingother elements (e.g., a first computer system may implement accountallocation engine 200 while another computer system may implementallocation rules module 215).

In various embodiments, computer system 800 may be a single-processorsystem including one processor 810, or a multi-processor systemincluding two or more processors 810 (e.g., two, four, eight, or anothersuitable number). Processors 810 may be any processor capable ofexecuting program instructions. For example, in various embodiments,processors 810 may be general-purpose or embedded processorsimplementing any of a variety of instruction set architectures (ISAs),such as the x86, PowerPC®, ARM®, SPARC®, or MIPS® ISAs, or any othersuitable ISA. In multi-processor systems, each of processors 810 maycommonly, but not necessarily, implement the same ISA. Also, in someembodiments, at least one processor 810 may be a graphics processingunit (GPU) or other dedicated graphics-rendering device.

System memory 820 may be configured to store program instructions and/ordata accessible by processor 810. In various embodiments, system memory820 may be implemented using any suitable memory technology, such asstatic random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM),nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, or any other type of memory. Asillustrated, program instructions and data implementing certainoperations, such as, for example, those described in connection withFIGS. 1-7, may be stored within system memory 820 as programinstructions 825 and data storage 835, respectively. In otherembodiments, program instructions and/or data may be received, sent orstored upon different types of computer-accessible media or on similarmedia separate from system memory 820 or computer system 800. Generallyspeaking, a computer-readable medium may include any tangible ornon-transitory storage media or memory media such as magnetic or opticalmedia—e.g., disk or CD/DVD-ROM coupled to computer system 800 via I/Ointerface 830, Flash memory, random access memory (RAM), etc. Programinstructions and data stored on a tangible computer-accessible medium innon-transitory form may further be transmitted by transmission media orsignals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals, whichmay be conveyed via a communication medium such as a network and/or awireless link, such as may be implemented via network interface 840.

In an embodiment, I/O interface 830 may be configured to coordinate I/Otraffic between processor 810, system memory 820, and any peripheraldevices in the device, including network interface 840 or otherperipheral interfaces, such as input/output devices 850. In someembodiments, I/O interface 830 may perform any suitable protocol, timingor other data transformations to convert data signals from one component(e.g., system memory 820) into a format usable by another component(e.g., processor 810). In some embodiments, I/O interface 830 mayinclude support for devices attached through various types of peripheralbuses, such as a variant of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard, for example. Insome embodiments, the function of I/O interface 830 may be split intotwo or more separate components, such as a north bridge and a southbridge, for example. In addition, in some embodiments, some or all ofthe functionality of I/O interface 830, such as an interface to systemmemory 820, may be incorporated into processor 810.

Network interface 840 may be configured to allow data to be exchangedbetween computer system 800 and other devices attached to a network,such as other computer systems, or between nodes of computer system 800.In various embodiments, network interface 840 may support communicationvia wired or wireless general data networks, such as any suitable typeof Ethernet network, for example; via telecommunications/telephonynetworks such as analog voice networks or digital fiber communicationsnetworks; via storage area networks such as Fiber Channel SANs, or viaany other suitable type of network and/or protocol.

Input/output devices 850 may, in some embodiments, include one or moredisplay terminals, keyboards, keypads, touch screens, scanning devices,voice or optical recognition devices, or any other devices suitable forentering or retrieving data by one or more computer system 800. Multipleinput/output devices 850 may be present in computer system 800 or may bedistributed on various nodes of computer system 800. In someembodiments, similar input/output devices may be separate from computersystem 800 and may interact with one or more nodes of computer system800 through a wired or wireless connection, such as over networkinterface 840.

As shown in FIG. 8, memory 820 may include program instructions 825,configured to implement certain embodiments described herein, and datastorage 835, comprising various data accessible by program instructions825. In an embodiment, program instructions 825 may include softwareelements corresponding to one or more of the various embodimentsillustrated in the above figures. For example, program instructions 825may be implemented in various embodiments using any desired programminglanguage, scripting language, or combination of programming languagesand/or scripting languages (e.g., C, C++, C#, JAVA™, JAVASCRIPT™, Perl,etc.). Data storage 835 may include data that may be used in theseembodiments. In other embodiments, other or different software elementsand data may be included.

A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that computersystem 800 is merely illustrative and is not intended to limit the scopeof the disclosure described herein. In particular, the computer systemand devices may include any combination of hardware or software that canperform the indicated operations. Additionally, the operations performedby the illustrated components may, in some embodiments, be performed byfewer components or distributed across additional components. Similarly,in other embodiments, the operations of some of the illustratedcomponents may not be provided and/or other additional operations may beavailable. Accordingly, systems and methods described herein may beimplemented or executed with other computer system configurations.

The various systems and methods illustrated in the figures and describedherein represent example embodiments of systems and methods for managingfinancial accounts associated with residents of controlled-environmentfacilities. These techniques may be implemented in software, hardware,or a combination thereof. The order in which each operation of a givenmethod is performed may be changed, and various elements of the systemsillustrated herein may be added, reordered, combined, omitted, modified,etc. Various modifications and changes may be made as would be clear toa person of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of thisspecification. It is intended that the invention(s) described hereinembrace all such modifications and changes and, accordingly, the abovedescription should be regarded in an illustrative rather than arestrictive sense.

1. A method, comprising: performing, via one or more computer systems:receiving information corresponding to a pooled account existing for thebenefit of a plurality of residents of a controlled-environmentfacility; electronically designating a first portion of funds within thepooled account that are allocated to a given resident as inaccessible tothe given resident; and electronically designating a second portion offunds within the pooled account that are allocated to the given residentas accessible to the given resident.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe controlled-environment facility is selected from the groupconsisting of: a municipal jail, a county jail, a state prison, afederal prison, a military stockade, a juvenile facility, a detentioncamp, a home incarceration environment, a hospital, a nursing home, amental health facility, a rehabilitation facility, a hotel, a resort, acamp, a school, and a dormitory.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising electronically subtracting a fee from funds within the pooledaccount that are allocated to the given resident in response to thedesignating.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the given resident is awork-release inmate, the method further comprising: causing the secondportion of funds to be available for the work-release inmate's use via adebit card.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing,via the one or more computer systems, electronically adding money to thefunds allocated to the given resident, the added money received from thegiven resident or from the given resident's employer.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: performing, via the one or more computersystems, electronically subtracting money from the funds allocated tothe given resident, the subtracted money corresponding to at least oneof a restitution obligation, child support obligation, or fine.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: performing, via the one or morecomputer systems, electronically enforcing, for the given resident, anallocation rule configured to establish a maximum amount of fundsallowed to be designated as the second portion.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising: performing, via the one or more computer systems,electronically enforcing, for the given resident, a spending ruleconfigured to control at least one of: a geographical area where fundsin the second portion are allowed to be spent, a type of transactionallowed to be conducted using funds in the second portion, or a type ofbusiness allowed to receive payment from funds in the second portion. 9.The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing, via the one ormore computer systems, automatically transferring funds from the firstportion to the second portion in response to the second portion reachinga minimum amount.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:performing, via the one or more computer systems, causing the secondportion of funds to be available for the given resident's use via amagnetic card or a near-field communication (NFC) device.
 11. A system,comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at leastone processor, the memory configured to store program instructionsexecutable by the at least one processor to cause the system to: receiveinformation corresponding to a pooled account existing for the benefitof a plurality of residents of a controlled-environment facility;designate a first portion of funds within the pooled account that areallocated to a given resident as inaccessible to the given resident; anddesignate a second portion of funds within the pooled account that areallocated to the given resident as accessible to the given resident. 12.The system of claim 11, wherein the controlled-environment facility isselected from the group consisting of: a municipal jail, a county jail,a state prison, a federal prison, a military stockade, a juvenilefacility, a detention camp, a home incarceration environment, ahospital, a nursing home, a mental health facility, a rehabilitationfacility, a hotel, a resort, a camp, a school, and a dormitory.
 13. Thesystem of claim 11, the program instructions further executable by theat least one processor to cause the system to subtract a fee from fundsallocated to the given resident.
 14. The system of claim 11, whereindesignating the first and second portions occurs in response to a user'scommand received via an interactive voice response (IVR) system or agraphical user interface (GUI).
 15. The system of claim 11, whereindesignating the first and second portions occurs in response toexecution of one or more allocation rules.
 16. A computer-readablestorage medium having program instructions stored thereon that, uponexecution by one or more computer systems, cause the one or morecomputer systems to: receive information corresponding to a pooledaccount existing for the benefit of a plurality of residents of acontrolled-environment facility; designate a first portion of fundswithin the pooled account that are allocated to a given resident asinaccessible to the given resident; and designate a second portion offunds within the pooled account that are allocated to the given residentas accessible to the given resident.
 17. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 16, wherein the controlled-environment facility isselected from the group consisting of: a municipal jail, a county jail,a state prison, a federal prison, a military stockade, a juvenilefacility, a detention camp, a home incarceration environment, ahospital, a nursing home, a mental health facility, a rehabilitationfacility, a hotel, a resort, a camp, a school, and a dormitory.
 18. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 16, the program instructionsfurther executable by the by one or more computer systems to cause theone or more computer systems to subtract a fee from funds allocated tothe given resident.
 19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim16, wherein designating the first and second portions occurs in responseto a user's command received via an interactive voice response (IVR)system or a graphical user interface (GUI).
 20. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 16, wherein designating the first and secondportions occurs in response to execution of one or more allocationrules.